Pretty much every design history of GCT I've ever seen notes the fact that you can get to your train without going up and down any stairs as a noteworthy design innovation. Here's an example for what it's worth:
"
Another innovation was the extensive use of ramps, rather than stairs, throughout the station. This allowed both local commuters and long distance travellers to quickly get from track level to city streets, without lugging luggage up and down crowded steps; the feature was soon adopted in transportation centers around the world."
http://www.history.com/news/grand-central-terminal-an-american-icon-turns-100
Manny, the historians are right. We were responding to your missive which gave the wrong impression. You said:
The innovation at GCT (apart from the aesthetics) was the fact that you could walk directly from the great hall to your train platform without walking down any stairs--the platforms were built level with the station concourse. Later they added a lower level to increase capacity, and of course you need stairs to access these additional tracks. But it's great when your train departs from the upper level at GCT and you can just walk (or run) directly onto the platform to catch your train.
The portion highlighted in
bold in the quote from your previous post above, are your words apparently and not that of any historian. The innovation was the use of ramps, not that the platforms were built at the same level as the station concourse, which BTW is patently false for Grand Central, since if that were the case, the innovation of using ramps would have been unnecessary.
And the portion highlighted in
Italics is also partly wrong, since both levels of the current Grand Central were built at the same time.
Amtrak will go into GCT when the Spuyten Devil bridge over the Harlem River that leads onto Amtrak's West Side line is not usable for whatever reason (and the trains are not flat out annulled).
All of NYC's passenger service to New York went into GCT. Amtrak's Lakeshore Limited and Empire Service that moved into Madison Square Garden's basement were just the tattered remnants of what was once a great fleet of passenger trains.
True, but the service had been completely decimated by NYC and then by PC way before Amtrak came onto the scene. It was not Amtrak that decimated the service. Just clarifying, not suggesting that you meant to imply such.
